An old world adveture
by spike tashy
Summary: Strange things are happening around big mountain. and it's up to Alice to stop them. but she's got her own problems. could she be falling in love with doctor 8? just what exactly is going on in the big empty! based off the old world blues DLC.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

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Alice sighed and stretched as the alarm clock next to her bed chimed, 8:30am. Turning off the alarm, Alice smiled as across the room she heard the red light switch yawn too. "good morning baby. How's the light? Need me too….personally adjust anything?" something about a light switch that hits on you just brought a smile to her face, stretching again Alice yawned once more before sitting up in her bed, swinging her legs over the side and stood up. As she walked out of her room, Alice heard her brain yell at her from inside it's glass case. "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON! IT'S SHIT LIKE THAT; THAT MAKES ME HAPPY I'M IN THIS JAR!" Alice smiled. She liked teasing her brain. As she walked past blind diode Jefferson she patted the jukebox on its 'head'. "morning Jefferson. Got anything good for me today?"

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In response Jefferson blinked for a moment before soft classical orchestral music began to play. "I hope this is to your liking baby doll." Alice nodded. "it's perfect." Still stark naked Alice stepped out of her 'living room' and out into the main section of the sink. Stepping up to the small counter next to the Bio research station Alice chuckled as she heard the station speak to her. "morning sexy thang, your seeds are almost ready. Soon you'll have some nice warm, sticky, goo that you can guzzle down that adorable little mouth of yours." Alice rolled her eyes. she still wasn't sure if the station realized how sexual it sounded. Looking down at the counter Alice sighed again all the coffee mugs she had set out the night before were gone.

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"WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL MY COFFEE MUGS!" the words hadn't even left her mouth before she heard muggy scream. "**NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**." Growling Alice turned and just barely caught sight of the mini-securitron racing into the 'floating organ room'. Groaning Alice stormed into the organ room and ignored her brain as it again shouted at her to put on clothes. In the corner she could see muggy with his back against the pile of coffee mugs, his arms outstretched trying to block them from her sight.

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Storming over Alice grabbed muggy by his small antenna and tossed the mini robot aside. Grabbing one of the mugs Alice paused as she was about to pass her brain's jar. It had been a while since she'd really messed with her brain. Stepping up the jar Alice grinned evilly as she leaned forward pressing her naked breasts against the glass. Almost at once her brain started shouting. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! ARG I NEED A BRAIN SCRUB! MUST GET RID OF MENTAL IMAGE!" laughing Alice left the room, and back to the coffee pot, before filling the mug with coffee and downing the contents in a few gulps. Filling the mug up again Alice made her way back to her bedroom and pulling open one of the large lockers that lined the walls.

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It had been 5 months since she'd become 'admin' at the big empty. After she'd convinced the think tank to remain here in the big empty, she had been approached by Klein who had named her think tank admin. Of course her job had changed very little. Perhaps it had been the years of isolation in the dome. Perhaps it was just force of habit, but the brains very rarely left their great dome. Although on occasion Alice had woken up to find Dala hovering over her, playing the 'heavy breathing' audio track she'd helped to make during one of their 'breathers'. Those times were awkward. Anyways the job fell to her to repair damaged machinery outside the think tank. Or to retrieve technology that the think tank required to continue their bazaar experiments. Flipping through her outfits Alice smiled as she found the one she was looking for. Pulling it out of the locker Alice set about putting on the sorrow's adorned outfit she'd selected.

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It was a bit odd, she had high-tech armor, armors of every rank from every faction in new Vegas. Even a set of old power armor from the brother hood of steel; yet she felt more comfortable running around in clothing worn by tribals; than she did in any modern armor. Securing the cloth around her her breasts Alice stopped only long enough to holster her .45 auto-pistol before leaving the sink and making her way to the think tank where the brains lived. As she stepped through the door and up the ramp she did a quick survey of the room. Nothing ever really hanged. Although once or twice she'd come in to find all the brains clustered around one of the work tables that lined the back wall. Stepping up to the central platform Alice cleared her throat to let the brains know she was there.

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"AHHHH. THE LOBOTOMITE ADMINISTRATOR RETURNS….BUT WITH MINIMAL COVERINGS. HOW….PRIMATIVE." Alice rolled her eyes. No matter how much she argued with klein she could not get him to stop caller her lobotomite. Huffing in irritation Alice spoke. "if my coverings bother you I could always take them off." Just to annoy the doctor she actaully moved as though she were going to take the wrap around her hips off. There was almost instant objections, from klein and borous who began shouting at her. "I FORBID YOU TO REMOVE ANY MORE COVERINGS FROM YOURSELF! I BARELY TOLERATE YOUR EXCRETIONS BUT I WILL NOT HAVE YOU PRANCING AROUND THIS LAB IN YOUR UNDERSKIN!" Alice laughed but nodded. "yeah yeah, whatever. What do you need me to do today?"

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Klein was silent for a moment before speaking. "8 has been conduction experiments with subsonic tones and their effects on….. I doubt a lobotomite such as yourself would understand 8's basic experiments. But he's come to a road block. Several components he requires to finish his experiments are located within the ruins of the old harmonics labs." Alice nodded. "so you need me to go and get them?" "NEGGATIVE!" Alice winced slightly at how loudly Klein had shouted. "then what do you need me for?" it was not klein who spoke this time but Borous. "while not as smart as us; you do have a unique knowledge if big mountain and the various…. hostile inhabitance that dwell with in this facilities ruins. That is why we need you to escort doctor 8 to the harmonics lab, so that he may find and bring back these extremely sensitive components."

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Alice raised an eyebrow. "8 is going to leave the dome and travel with me, through the big empty and to a lab that may or may not exist anymore?" Borous's monitor's flickered. "now the lobotomite is repeating what we say. Perhaps we have over-taxed it's simple comprehension skills." Borous moved a bit closer and spoke in an overly slow voice. "we. Need. you. To. Take. 8. To his. Lab. Can. You. Do. This?" Alice rolled her eyes. "I'm starting to see why Betsy bright never liked you." Turning to 8 Alice spoke. "are you ready to go now?" 8 nodded and floated over to her, stopping by her side and turning back to face the remaining think tank. After a moment klein spoke. "just keep your penises to yourself lobotomite, that includes all hand and feet penises. And try not to give into you biological need to….excrete. now go so we can return to real science." And with that the rest of the think tank turned and went back to their experiments.

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Jerking her head Alice gestured for 8 to follow her back down the ramp and into the sink. As they passed through the mechanical doors 8 spoke. "*& % ^$%!& *; *!%#*" Alice shurgged. "we're gunna be trekking across the entire crater to get to your lab. I'm gunna need more than 1 pistol, and this armor. Don't worry we'll leave soon. I just need to change and stalk up. 8's eye monitors tilted showing sadness. Alice smiled. "don't worry. I'll keep you safe. Nothing's gunna happen. Ok?" 8's mouth monitor flickered into a smile. Smiling back Alice turned to return to her room passing through her sitting room Alice only stopped when blind diode Jefferson spoke to her. "looks like you got a visitor baby. Need any mood music?" turning back around Alice found that 8 had followed her and was now hovering just behind her.

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Holding up her hand Alice spoke. "hold it. No peeking while I change." 8's eyes flickered to confusion. "^ $*?' &*%^#%!*~" Alice closed her eyes mentally kicking herself. Of course 8 didn't understand things like privacy. He'd been a robot for so long he'd forgotten about human life. "look, I don't want you to watch me while I change into different clothes, why don't you and Jefferson talk while I change. You like sounds and he plays sounds. Just talk. Ok?" 8 was saved from responding when Jefferson flickered to life and began to play a small jazz tune. Smiling Alice turned and walked back into her room and towards her lockers.

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The facility was dangerous. Nothing could change that, feral lobotomites roamed in packs, frenzied robo-brains shot at anything that moved, and lately there had been an increase in nightstalker attacks, not to mention the few remaining robo-scorpions that still roamed around. Pulling out a set of white legs hide armor Alice set about changing, pausing just long enough to grab her grey ranger hat from its hook, and a set of biker goggles. Next came weapons. Of course she would keep her silenced .45, it was always useful to have. Pausing to look at her weapon storage Alice thought. She wasn't traveling alone, so she couldn't just dig in and keep shooting, if it came down to it, she needed to be able to cover 8 while they ran. Nodding to herself Alice grabbed a few extra clips for her .45, before pulling her fully modded, hunting shotgun off its rack loading a slug round into the chamber as she did.

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A short time later Alice left her room, backpack packed and ready to go, shotgun in hand with a strap around her shoulder so she could walk and not have to carry the gun at all times. Walking out of her room Alice watched as Jefferson flickered again before speaking. "this boy's alright. Got a bit of a speech impediment, but he's alright." 8 turned to her his eyes flickering to curiosity. "&^ &% ;'::` ~ !$" Alice nodded. "yeah, are you ready to go." 8 didn't respond but instead began floating towards the outside door. Smiling Alice paused long enough to turn off the lights before following 8 out into the big empty.

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Alice couldn't help but laugh as they walked through the open facility. 8 was like a kid. Since they'd left the think tank dome his eye monitors had yet to stop moving. Instead they shifted up, down, left and right taking in everything they could as they walked. Still smiling Alice slung her shotgun across her back and dug into her backpack pulling out a box in instamash and a bottle of dirty water. Most people would never mix 2 irradiated items together and eat them. But Alice wasn't like other people. The tribe she had come from lived in an area that had always been irradiated. So much so that it had actually effected the and altered their DNA slightly, just enough so that now without any aid their bodies naturally dissipated radiation. Meaning that over time her body would harmlessly absorb any radiation in her system. shaking the box of instamash so as to mix the dried powder and water together, Alice did a quick scan of the area before beginning to eat. Lacking any form of eating utensil Alice took to using her fingers to scoop up the mash up before licking it off her fingers.

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After several minutes however Alice became aware 8 was watching her. Turning Alice smiled sheepishly. "do you mind if I eat?" 8 looked quizzically at her. "&$% /#% &#% ;~*&" Alice shrugged, and licked off more mash. "I'm hungry. Unlike you, I still have to eat to fuel my bodies functions." She had been about to swipe out the last of the mash when a noise to her right made her drop the box and bring her shotgun up. Instantly scanning the area for the source of the noise Alice acted with split second timing. Even as the robo-brain advanced forward aiming it's wrist lasers Alice was acting. Taking aim Alice pulled the trigger and felt the rifle jerk in response. Twine slug rounds tore through the air and truck the robo-brain. The first round struck the main chassis, creating a shower of sparks while denting the metal skin. The second round tore through the brain casing, causing the glass dome to shatter and explode sending a small wave of brain sustaining fluid onto the ground causing the robo-brain to slow and stop before crashing to the ground 'dead'.

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Sighing slightly Alice was motioned for 8 to stay close as they continued on, leaving her box of half eaten mash laying on the ground.

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><p>AN: WELL FOLKS WHAT DO YOU THINK?<p>

IT'S NOT MUCH, BUT IT'S BEEN IN MY HEAD FOR A BIT.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? CONTINUE? ABANDON?

LET ME KNOW!

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A QUICK NOTE ABOUT 8'S SPEECH.

DONT LOOK FOR ANY KIND OF PATTERN. I JUST RANDOMLY CHOSE THE SYMBOLS FOR HIS SPEECH.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sighing slightly Alice was motioned for 8 to stay close as they continued on, leaving her box of half eaten mash laying on the ground. _

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CHAPTER 2

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Alice shook her head chuckling slightly. It wasn't surprising she had missed 8's lab during her early exploration. Located near the stealth testing labs the harmonics lab was well hidden amongst the large concrete disruption towers that stuck u out of the earth. As they walked Alice could feel her skin prickling. When she'd been here before she'd been swarmed several times by nightstalkers. Back then she had been able to climb up one of the shorter towers and take shots from there. However with 8 tagging along that option was not going to work. So now she was on edge every sound a possible nightstalker ambush, every shadow a lobotomite laying in wait. The door to the lab wasn't hidden, but instead buried so that only the top 1/4th of the door was visible.

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Looking around Alice began to think. She could dig the door out by hand. But that would take time and she wouldn't be able to protect 8 correctly. Grinning slightly as unslung her backpack and began digging through the compartments. As she did so 8 spoke. "%*.* !# %&^ .,;`~-" Alice grinned again as she found what she was looking for. Pulling the object out, Alice spoke. "I can't spend all day digging out the door. It would take to long, and we might get ambushed. So this will do the digging for us." Walking up to the door, Alice bend down and began using her hand to dig a small hole for her to place the object in. as the hole reached arms length in depth, Alice stopped and pulled out a small spool of wire, from her pack. Twisting the wire around the firing pin of the holy grenade Alice took care to ensure the wire had enough slack before dropping the grenade down into the hole. Covering the hole back up Alice was careful to not tug too much on the wire as she unspun it, and led it to a small hill a few yards away.

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Crouching down behind the hill Alice made sure 8 was safely next to her before acting. Closing her eyes, and adjusting her goggles before ducking down and sharply pulling the wire. For a split second everything was perfectly still. Nothing moved, nothing made any sound, nothing happened. Then as though the world was ending again the ground shook violently. Instantly Alice's view was instantly full of dust and flying debris. And while most of the debris didn't reach them the bits that did pelted the dirt hill they hid behind like small bullets. As the dust began to clear Alice coughed slightly and stood up, her hands clutching her shotgun. They had made a lot of noise, and it was more than likely that they had attracted the attention of anything nearby. Jerking her head Alice motioned for 8 to move in behind her.

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Moving through the dust cloud Alice smiled as she found that her plan had worked. The door to the lab was twisted and bent and it took only a few hits from the butt of her shotgun to make the door completely cave in and allow them to enter the lab. But it was here that Alice faltered. Here standing in front of the door Alice froze as she felt her heart rate begin to increase.

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8'S POV

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I'm continuously surprised by Alice's ingenuity. As smart as I am I never would have thought to use an explosive to uncover and open the door to my lab. As I follow her through the dust cloud I stick close to her. While the dust doesn't prevent my monitors from seeing what's going on, it does play hell with my sensors. It makes everything foggy and unclear. But as we near the door Alice stops. At first I'm not sure why. Has she seen a hostile creature? Has she been injured in the blast. But my question is answer by my audio scanners which pick up on her heart rate increasing. It's odd, but dala reported that Alice took only her heart back once she was able to. She allowed her brain and spine to stay separate but not her heart. Now her heart rate is increasing, and becoming very strong. Instantly my processors begin running through my archive, looking for a match or a similarity to the sound that Alice's heart is making. While at the same time my scanners detect the human act of breathing has increased as well.

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To a human it would be a fraction of a second. But to me it's millions of inquiries later that my processors find a sound file with a 97% audio match to Alice's heartbeat. Opening the file I ignore the file itself and instead look at its properties, when and where it was taken, and what was happening while it was recorded.

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'audio file 508276,

accelerated heartbeat cause by minor claustrophobia attack.

subject: 11 year old girl.'

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Another string of inquiries later and the definition of claustrophobia pops up.

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'claustrophobia: the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces, rooms or hallways.'

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Instantly I process what is happening. Alice has this claustrophobia problem. She's afraid of enclosed spaces, and the hallways of my lab are certainly enclosed. I'm about to speak when I notice she's fiddling with the small wrist computer she calls a pip-boy. After a few seconds, soft music begins to play. My scanners instantly recognize it as song number 7 of the pre-static playlist created to ease and remove tension for the scientists and staff here at big mountain.

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ALICE'S POV

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Stepping through the door Alice felt herself shudder as her claustrophobia took hold of her. She wasn't paralyzed, thank god. No instead her breathing became shorter, as though trying to make the oxygen in the lab last longer. Stepping passed the twisted door, Alice led 8 into the lab. Unlike most of the other labs here in the big empty, this one still seems to be working for the most part. As 8 enters the lab lights flicker on illuminating the lab. We're in some kind of greeting room. Across from me a desk sits, an old computer terminal sits on it. The screen is cracked but as I sit in the ancient chair and click one of the buttons the terminal whirrs and flickers to life. I breathe in a small sigh or release as I discover it's not locked and I won't have to go through the annoying process of figuring out the password.

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Most of the entries are pointless, internal memos, personal emails. Although I do find an amusing email about how one of the secretaries is sleeping with one of the scientists just to get a raise. Clicking off the computer Alice stood up and spoke. "ok. Before we go any deeper into the lab I have something to ask you. Is there anything in this lab that I need to know about? Any kind of robots, or hostile experiments, or…anything?" "&*" Alice nodded, and got up from the desk. But before following 8 down the hallway Alice stopped just long enough to plant a fragmine in front of the newly blasted open door. Now if anything or anyone tried to follow them the mine would go off, hopefully killing the pursuer but defiantly alert them to the fact they were being followed. Walking through the hallways Alice could feel herself on edge. The hallways were well lit but narrow. If it came down to a fire fight it would be about who could hit more targets faster. With that in mind as they walked Alice set about switching out the ammo from her shotgun from the red shelled slug rounds, to the blue shelled coinshot rounds.

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Smiling Alice chuckled slightly as they walked. It was no secret she had NO love for the legion. In fact she would almost go out of her way to ensure trouble for the legion. She attacked supply trains, poisoned water supplies, and even on occasion would camp out on a mountain and sniper legionaries from a distance. Her development of the special coinshot rounds had been especially satisfying for her. as a tribal her tribes customs came before modern tradition. And in her tribe killing an enemy with something they valued was one of the ultimate ways to desecrate their souls. So now every legion coin she had would have it's edges filed down to a razor's edge, so now she could kill a legionary with his own money. But she'd also learned that coinshot rounds did a very wide range of damage. So they were perfect for confined spaces like these hallways. With coinshot she could send out a wave of razors that would slice through flesh, muscles, and bones, with ease. Of course if they encountered robots, they would have a bit of trouble, coinshot was strong, but not strong enough to do major damage to metal.

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Still on edge Alice followed 8 down the hallway turning right into a small room and coming to a stop while 8 floated along the back wall. Even as she scanned the room she could tell 8 was manipulating the computers. as he floated along the computers around him would flicker and come to life for a brief moment before dying. "so what exactly are we looking for?" in response Alice watched as 8 floated over to an old prewar projector, and after hovering around it for several moments made the projector flicker and sputter to life. Moving over to the projector Alice watched as a balding man with glasses in his mid 30s walked up to the camera. Alice winced slightly as the man spoke. The sound was horribly degraded, at some points the speaking began very high pitched and at other times it slowed down so much it was almost imposible to tell what he was saying.

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"is it on? Isn't this great? We have the most advance tech in the country here but we don't have a camera that can tell us when it's on. Anyways…." Alice watched as the man flipped through a few pages on a clipboard he held. "ah yes. experiment number 1012712270. I'd residing researched doctor Robert Parsons. Today we'll be testing my latest little toy." Parsons turned he revelived a small table that had been standing behind him. on the table was a devise that looked very similar to a LAER rifle. "This is the harmonic cannon or as some have taken to calling it, he harmo-cannon. It similar to my sonic emitter the rifle uses much more powerful sonic generators as well as using a small laser to ensure the sound strikes what it is aimed at. Or to be more specific." parsons gestured to something off screen quieting the cameraman to turn the camera. Nothing happened. Alice watched as again parsons gestured to something off camera. When again nothing happened. parsons sighed. "TOM! WAKE UP!"

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off camera there was the sounds of someone waking up. "hu? Wha's goin on?" parsons sighed. "tom turn the camera please." "sorry doc, had a long night. Me and doctor Mandala-" but parsons raised his hand. "I don't care what you and dala were up to last night. Please just turn the camera." Alice chuckled as the camera turned, showing a sentry bot sitting in a cleared away area. After a moment parsons began to speak again. "this sentry bot has not been modified. It is for all intents and purposes, the exact same to any other sentry bot here at big mountain. Now if my calculations are correct when struck with my harmonic cannon the bot shall be rendered in operable due to the sonic vibrations caused by my invention. And since this is my invention I'll be firing it first. Wish me luck."

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Alice smiled. the way the think tank talked luck didn't seem to factor in to science. alice watched as the parsons paused to exchange his glasses for a set of safety goggles before walking over to a large painted X on the ground. Taking aim parsons was silent for a moment. When he pulled the trigger the camera turned just in time to see the beam of light strick the sentry bot which began to shake and smoke. As it did so parsons spoke. "did you see that! The sound waves were so compressed they became light waves! I never exp-" but parsons was cut off by a defining explosion as the sentry bot exploded sending sharpness and flames everywhere. "jesus doc! Are you trying to kill us!" parsons straightened his goggles. "no tom. No I wasn't. and now I'm no-" but as the projected died, leaving Alice and 8 back in reality. Alice nodded. "so you're looking for this harmo-cannon thing right?" 8's monitors nodded. Alice sighed and popped her neck before speaking. "well then we had better get going."

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8'S POV

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my processors hum with joy as we move through my old labs. It looks very similar to how I remember it. Sure the paint is peeling, and A LOT of the metal was or is rusted. But for the most part everything is how I left it. I feel bad about lying to Alice. But I couldn't be sure how she would react if she knew what I was really here for. As we move through the lab I wonder, is what I'm looking for even still there?

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><p>AN: WELL CHAPTER 2 DONE.<p>

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HOPING FOR REVIEWS.


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